Lock nut and blank therefor



May 4 1926. 1,583,249

jl. c. EMERY LOCK 2101' AND 1mm; 'rnnnnroa Filed July 15 1924 shown in Fig. 4; and

Patented May 4, 1926.

I. c. EMERY, on BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

LOCK NUT AND BLANK THEREFOR.

Application filed July 15,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that'I, I. O. EMERY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore city, State of -Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Look Nuts and Blanks Therefor; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and

exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to lock nuts and has for its object to improve the construction of devices of this character in a manner that will make them more efficient than has been heretofore proposed.

With this and other objects in V ew, the invention consists in the novel parts and combinations of parts constituting the improved nut, all as will be more fully hereinafter disclosed and particularlypointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which like numerals designate like parts in all the views, Y V

Figure 1 is a'perspective View ofa blank strip of steel suitable for forming the nut constituting this invention; 7

Figure 2 shows a blank of Fig.1, partially bent into shape to form the desired nut Figure 3 is a plan View of the-completed nut;

Figure 4 is a side elevational View of the 1 .parts shown in Fig. 3;

Figure 5 1s a sectional view of the parts I Figure 6 is an enlarged partial sectional: elevational view of the nut shown-in Fig. 3 with a bolt threaded therethrough. I

1 indicates a steel blank from which the nut of this invention'is to be made, and said blank is provided on its end portion 2 with the surface 3 which is inclined to thepar.- allel sides or surface has indicated; Said surface 3 on one v side terminates in the I rounded or curved surface 5 which, in turn,

is inclined to the parallel faces 4 of the blank and which terminates in the straight edge 6 located on the extremeedge portion of the hook-like member 7, all as will bev clear from the drawings. The opposite end portion 8 of the blankstrip 1 is similarly shaped, but the parts, although they are lettered the same as at the end portion 2, are inclined in directions different from said 1924. Serial a, 726,135.

cut away to form the fiat surfaces 9 and the spaces 10, as well as the, shoulders 11, the

surfaces of which are inclined to the Pan a-llel faces 4' of the blank,' to coact with the v inclined surfaces 3 when the blank is formed into a nut; I a I I The blank strip 1 being shaped asjust disclosed, may be bent around a mandrel (not shown) into the form illustrated in Fig. 2. After the strip 1 is thus shaped as is shown in Fig. 2, the hook members 7 may be still further bent in any suitable and well known type of machine to complete a-circle and .until theypass over each other and occupy the spaces 10. \Vhen said jhook members are thus bent into a circular form, as described, each surface 5 will contact with a cut away surface 9 and the hooks 7 will be disposed opposite each other, all as will be clearfrom an inspection of Fig. 4:. After the hooks 7 have thus been engaged,'it is preferred to subject the blank nut thus formed to such a compressive action as will cause the metal to be profoundly displaced dimensions of the surfaces 5 and'of the cut away surfaces 9 are so chosen that even after this heavy compression of the metal, said surfaces 5 will not quite fill up or occupy all of the space provided by the surfaces 9. That 1s, as 1s indicated on an exaggerated scale in Flg. 4, after said heavy compressionhas taken place, there, will still be a slight unfilled; space 15 between the hooks 7 whichwill permit the parts to expand when forced to do so,-all as will be more fully explained below.

After the nut is thus formed as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4:,it is screw threaded. But, it should be said that in forming the blank nut around t-he above mentioned mandrel, 7

said mandrel is preferably so shaped that itsdi'anieter is slightly larger in those por tions which will come opposite the portions 16 and 17 o f the finished nut tlian in those portions that will shape the middle 21' of the bore. That is to say, the bore of the blank nut will be; shaped somewhat like a double COheflDClWlll be somewhat larger in diameter attherespective edges 16 and 17 of the nut than in the middle of the hut The bore of the nut being thus enlarged slightly at each edge of the same, said bore is next screw threaded with a tap, which cylindrical or of the same diameter throughout and which has a diameter very slightly less than is the diameter of the screw threaded portion of the bolt .ZS whioh is to be used with the nut. Theresult is that the screw threads 19 and 20' near the respective ends of the bore are not complete threads, but are what we might call partial threads having their apicesout; off as shown at 19' and 20, Fig. 6. it results that the first thread of the bolt 23 will readily enter the nut, and when said bolt is turned said thread will exert a wedging action on the edge portion 16 on the inside of the nut and cause the other threads of the bolt to follow. But in orderfor the nutto'be screwed home on. the bolt moi-e er lss foi ce will be; requir d, ruse the diam ter or the} bore across the eei'itra'l threadsai is slightly less than the correspondin diameter of tliebolt across its central threads. The result of thus forcing the nut 22 having its central threads 21 0f a less diameter than the threads of the bolt, is to force outwardly the parts 7 of the original blank 1, and to thus tend to close up the space 15 in Fig; 4:. In other words,the hook portions 7 willtend to approach each other when the finished nut is screwed home and the spring action of the parts will thus tend to normally compress the nut upon the bolt threads tosuch a degree as to firmly lock the nut in place on the bolt.

It will thus be seen that owing to the threads 19 and 20 being cu-t away so to speak, n or of a somewhat larger diameter than are the threads 21,the bolt 23' can readily enter the nut, while when force is used to thread the nut 22 onto the bolt 23, the compressive action of'the partsis brought into action and the units firmly locked in place. p

The difierenee in diametersof the bore of the nut and across the threads of the bolt isslig'ht in any case, but will depend upon how accurately to standard dimensions the bolts are made. That is, with nuts that are to be made to standard dimensions and to be accurate within a few thousandths of an inch, and with bolts that are to be made accurate within like narrow dimensions, the diameters of the bores of the nuts need only he a few thousandths of an inch less than the diameters of the bolts. But Where the lyre a pain shaves-"are enter in e,

mes es v portion provided on its outside with a curved surface inclined to said sides, and on its insidewith a cut away surface forming a space porand a shoulder to receive the hook-like tion of the other end. p

2. A look nut consistin of a single, integra'l strip of inetal bent and compressed into shape and provided with a slit extending from the top of the nut downward and curved to a point/below the e'emer plane thereof, tl ience horizontally; thence upward- I p r v i thence horizontally thence dwas and curvedto the bot-torn of'said nut providing two interlocking hook portions separated by said slit and a space.

3. A lock nut consisting of a single, inte 'gral strip of metal provided with a slit extending from the top of the nut downward and curved to a point below the center plane thereof, thence horizontally, thence upwardly to a point above said center plane, thence horizontally again, thence downward and curvedvto the bottom of said nut, said nut having two interlocking hook portions sep arated by a space, and-provided with a threaded bore slightly larger at each'end than in its central portions.

4. A look nut consistingof a single, integral strip of metal compressed into shape and having slit" extending from the top of the nut downward and curved to a point below the center plane, thereof, thence horizont-ally, thence upwardly to a point above said center plane, thence ho'rizontallj'r again,

thence downward and curved to the bottom of said nut, saidnut providing two separated oppositely disposed interlocking hook portions and a bore which is slightly larger at one end than in its middle portions.

5. A loch nut blank consisting of a strip of metal having flat sides and each end of which is formed with an integral hook-like portion provided on its outside with a curved surface inclined to said sides, on its inside with a cut away surface forming a space and a shoulder to r ceive the hook-like portion of the other end; and each end portion also provided with a surface inclined to said sides and adapted to coact with said curved surface. I v y In testimony whereof I my signature.

I. e; nnEitY. 

